Clothes-line fastener.



Patented Dec." I9," |899.

G. A. WEBER. lCLOTHES LINE FASTENER.

(Application led Sept. 20, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT EErcE.

cUs'rAv A. WEBER, oEI MoNTIoELLo, IowA.

CLOTHES-LINE FASTENER..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters-Patent No. 639,638, dated. December 195 189g. ApplCOll iled September 2.0-, 1898. Serial No. 691,465. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern: *I

Be it known that I, GUSTAV A. VEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mouticello, in the county of Jones and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Clothes- Line Fixture, of which the followingis aspeciiication.

The invention relates to improvements in clothes-line fixtures.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of clothes-line fixtures, more especially the means for stretching and hanging a clothes-line to fence-postsor other supports, and to provide a casing in which a clothes-line when not in use may be housed and protected from the weather.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a clothes-line provided with fixtures constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the casing. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same, showing the ratchet mechanism. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the casing. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the clamps or hangers. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the same. Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view. Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view of the bracket or plate of the clamp or hanger, partly in section. Fig. 9 is a similar view of the hinged jaw, partly in section. Fig. 10 is a perspective View of the yoke and its pulleys.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

l designates a casing provided with a vertical back and having a curved front 2 and ends 3 conforming to the configuration of the back and the front. The back of the casing is extended above and below the curved front and is perforated for the reception of screws or other suitable fastening devices for mounting it upon a support-such as a fence-post, outhouse, or the like-and the front of the casing is provided with a door-opening, which is covered when the clothes-linel 4: is not in use by a curved slide or door 5, mounted in suitable ways on the ends of the casing and adapted to be raised and locked in an elevated position, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings. The curved ways,which receive the lends of the door or slide, consist of grooves formed by ribs 6, and the lower or free edge of the slide or door is provided with a ring '7, adapted to be engaged with a projection 8 of the body of the casing, whereby the slide or door is retained in au elevated position while the line is in use. The line is wound around a shaft or windlass 9, provided with flanges or heads 10 and journaled in suitable bearings of the ends of the casing. One end of the shaft, which is extended through the casing, has an eXteriorly-arranged crank-handle ll, secured to it by a nut l2 and provided with a ratchet-wheel 13; but the ratchet-wheel maybe mounted on the shaft independently of the crank-handle. The ratchet-wheel is engaged by a dog or pawl 14, pivoied at one end to a suitable bracket orsupport l5 and engaged by a spring 16, which normally holds it in engagement with the ratchet-wheel. The engaging end of the pawl or dog is curved, and one end of the spring is secured to the same adjacent to the curved engaging end, and the other end of the spring bears against the bracket or support 15. The spring-actuated pawl ordog is held out of engagement with the ratchetwheel when unwinding the clothes-line by means of a slotted sliding plate or wedge 17, arranged on a headed stud 1S and supported by a projection lf). y fastening device employed is arranged in a longitudinal slot of the plate or wedge, which is adapted to be moved inward and outward, as will be readily understood. i

The clothesline is stretched and held at one end by the reel, and it is supported and held at the other points by means of hangers or clamps 20, consisting of a bracket or plate 2l, a hinged jaw 22, and a yoke 23, which receives the clothes-line and which is provided with pulleys 24. The upper and lower ends The headed stud or other.-

of the bracket or plate 2l are perforated for Y IOC clamping-jaw is engaged by a thumb-screw 27. The thumb-screw has a threaded shank passing through a perforation of the lower end of the clampingjaw and engaging a threaded perforation or opening of the lower portion of the bracket or plate, and as the clothes-line passes transversely through the clamp or hanger and is interposed between the bracket and the jaw it will be clear that it may be firmly clamped i'n such position and effectually prevented from slipping after it has been properly stretched.

The bracket or plate is provided at its back and sides with a horizontal groove 28, receiving the horizontal yoke 23, and the ends of the latter are bifurcated to form openings for the passage of the clothes-line, the pulleys '24 being pivoted in the bifurcations and having the clothes-line passing over them, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 7 of the accompanying drawings. The yoke and its pulleys form guides for the clothes-line and relieve the clamping-jaw of strain while the line is being stretched to the desired tension.

The bracket and the clamping-jaw are provided at their inner engaging faces with corrugated blocks 28 and 29, of rubber or other suitable material, and are adapted to engage hemp or other rope without injuring the same. The corrugated elastic blocks 28 and 29, which are provided with beveled side edges, are fitted in dovetailed recesses of the bracket and the jaw; but instead of providing yielding corrugated engaging faces the corrugations ma;7 be formed integral with the parts when a soft-wire rope or cable is employed as a clothes-line.

The invention has the following advantages: The clothes-line fixture is adapted to house a clothes-line and protect it from the weather, and it is capable of stretching the same to the desired tension. The hangers or clamps, which may be mounted on fence-posts or any other suitable supports, are adapted to clamp aline iirmly and prevent it from slipping after it has once been properly stretched, and the yokes and pulleys enable the clothesline to move freelyin stretching the same, and they relieve the clam pin g-jaw of strain during such stretching operation.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Vhat is claimed isl. A device of the class described compris'- ing a bracket', a movable jaw arranged at the front of the bracket and adapted to clamp a rope between it and the said bracket, and guides carried by the bracket and located at opposite sides of the movable jaw and receiving the rope and adapted to guide the same and capable of also relieving the movable jaw ot' strain when the rope is being stretched, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the class described, a rope clamp or hanger comprising a plate orbracket, amovable clamping-jaw mounted thereon and adapted to engage a clothes-line, and a yoke engaging the plate or bracket and provided at opposite sides of the clam ping-jaw with openings adapted to receive a clothes-line, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the class described, a rope clamp or han gercomprisin g a plate or bracket, a movable clamping-jaw, a yoke having its sides bifurcated and located at opposite sides of the jaw, pulleys mounted in the bifurcations, and means for adjusting the jaw, substantially as described.

4. In adevice of the class described, a rope clamp or hanger comprising a bracket provided at its back and sides with a groove, a yoke arranged in the groove and having its ends bifurcated, pulleys mounted in the bifu rcations of the yoke, and a movable clamping-jaw mounted on the plate or bracket and operating between the sides of the yoke, substantially as described.

5. In a device of the class described, a rope clamp or hanger comprising a bracket, a clamping-jaw extending longitudinally of the bracket and hinged at one end to the same, an adjusting device connecting the other end of the jaw with the bracket, and a yoke mounted on the bracket and provided with rope-receiving openings, substantially as described.

6. In a device of the class described, a rope clamp or hanger comprising a bracket, a movable clam ping-jaw, corrugated elastic blocks itted in dovetailed recesses of the bracket and the jaw, and a yoke having rope-receiving openings, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

GUSTAV A. WVEBER.

Witnesses:

H. ScHEEn, J. P. LANG.

IOO 

